Kyiv hit by new massive Russian drone attack, Ukraine officials say
In the early hours of Thursday, morning Kyiv's military administration reported Russian drone strikes in six city districts."Residential buildings, vehicles, warehouses, office and non-residential buildings are burning," administration head Tymur Tkachenko said in a post on Telegram.He urged city residents to shelter until the air raid siren was lifted.Overnight, Ukraine's air force reported a threat of Russian drone attacks in a number of regions. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties outside Kyiv.Russia's military has not commented on the reported latest attack.In other developments:Ukraine's emergency service DSNS said late on Wednesday that three people had been killed in a Russian air strike in the town of Kostiantynivka - close to the front line in eastern UkraineThe US resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine, Reuters reported late on Wednesday, days after it halted shipments of some critical armsRussian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: US resumes military supplies to Ukraine, Zelenskyy announces
The US has resumed military supplies to Ukraine and senior officials in Kyiv will work on military cooperation next week with Washington's special envoy, Keith Kellogg, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Friday. He restated that Ukraine had received high-level signals from Washington and its other western allies that arms supplies, paused for a time last week, had now resumed. 'We are currently working with partners on new supplies, increased weapons production in Ukraine and better support for our army,' he said. 'Next week, we will continue working with the US side on a military level … We are also preparing new European defence packages.' Kellogg, interviewed by the Ukrainian media outlet while attending a conference about Ukraine in Rome, said: 'We'll be in Kyiv Monday. We'll be there all week.' Donald Trump confirmed he had struck a deal with Nato leaders to supply weapons to Ukraine, Andrew Roth writes. During an interview with NBC News, the US president said: 'So what we're doing is the weapons that are going out are going to Nato, and then Nato is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and Nato is paying for those weapons.' He added: 'I'm disappointed in Russia, but we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.' The EU's top diplomat has said the 27-nation bloc was pondering a new raft of sanctions against Moscow. 'Russia has increased its attacks against civilians to really cause as much pain … and that's unacceptable,' the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said. Brussels was considering an 18th round of sanctions against Moscow and 'we are also still in negotiations to put the oil price cap on, that would deprive Russia from the means to fund this war', she told AFP. Kallas said she was assured by Laos's top diplomat that Vientiane had 'no intention or willingness' to send military help to Russia, following claims that Moscow was planning to involve military personnel from Laos to bolster its efforts in Ukraine. 'I also expressed that it has consequences for European aid to Laos if something like this is happening,' Kallas said. 'If you [Laos] contribute to that existential threat, we can't have good cooperation,' she warned. Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks killed three people in Russia on Friday. Russian air defence systems intercepted 155 Ukrainian drones overnight, Moscow said. There was one dead in Russia's Lipetsk region and another was killed in the western Tula region from the drone attacks, local officials said. Ukrainian shelling later killed another civilian in the border region of Belgorod, the governor announced. The Russian defence ministry said out of the 155 downed Ukrainian drones, 11 were bound for Moscow. Ukraine said its drones struck a Russian fighter aircraft plant in the Moscow region and a missile production facility in the Tula region, causing explosions and fires at both. Ukraine's military said on Telegram the aviation facility in the town of Lukhovitsy, about 135km (84 miles) south-east of Moscow, produced MiG fighters. The other site was the Instrument Design Bureau, which specialised in producing anti-aircraft missiles and missile-gun systems, it said. 'Defence forces continue to take all steps to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian occupiers,' the military said. Russian bombardments on eastern Ukraine overnight on Friday forced the evacuation of a maternity centre in Kharkiv and wounded nine people. Zelenskyy said a medical facility was hit in the attack on the country's second-largest city. 'Among the wounded are women in a maternity hospital – mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery,' he wrote on social media. 'Fortunately, no children were injured.' He added that several other regions were attacked overnight. Nato will need more long-range missiles in its arsenal to deter Russia from attacking Europe because Moscow is expected to increase production of long-range weapons, a US army general told Reuters. 'The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,' Maj Gen John Rafferty said at a US military base in Wiesbaden, Germany. 'And we know that they're going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defences. So more alliance capability is really, really important.' The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that wartime censorship in Russia is justified amid the conflict with Ukraine and the closure of opposition-minded media. Speaking to Russian magazine Expert, Peskov said that many media outlets have been closed, while some reporters have left the country in the past three years. 'But don't forget the situation we are in. Now is the time of military censorship, unprecedented for our country. After all, the war is going on in the information space too,' Peskov told the magazine. Russian authorities also blocked X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 'It would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia,' he said.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Ukraine war briefing: US resumes military supplies to Ukraine, Zelenskyy announces
The US has resumed military supplies to Ukraine and senior officials in Kyiv will work on military cooperation next week with Washington's special envoy, Keith Kellogg, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Friday. He restated that Ukraine had received high-level signals from Washington and its other western allies that arms supplies, paused for a time last week, had now resumed. 'We are currently working with partners on new supplies, increased weapons production in Ukraine and better support for our army,' he said. 'Next week, we will continue working with the US side on a military level … We are also preparing new European defence packages.' Kellogg, interviewed by the Ukrainian media outlet while attending a conference about Ukraine in Rome, said: 'We'll be in Kyiv Monday. We'll be there all week.' Donald Trump confirmed he had struck a deal with Nato leaders to supply weapons to Ukraine, Andrew Roth writes. During an interview with NBC News, the US president said: 'So what we're doing is the weapons that are going out are going to Nato, and then Nato is going to be giving those weapons [to Ukraine], and Nato is paying for those weapons.' He added: 'I'm disappointed in Russia, but we'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks.' The EU's top diplomat has said the 27-nation bloc was pondering a new raft of sanctions against Moscow. 'Russia has increased its attacks against civilians to really cause as much pain … and that's unacceptable,' the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said. Brussels was considering an 18th round of sanctions against Moscow and 'we are also still in negotiations to put the oil price cap on, that would deprive Russia from the means to fund this war', she told AFP. Kallas said she was assured by Laos's top diplomat that Vientiane had 'no intention or willingness' to send military help to Russia, following claims that Moscow was planning to involve military personnel from Laos to bolster its efforts in Ukraine. 'I also expressed that it has consequences for European aid to Laos if something like this is happening,' Kallas said. 'If you [Laos] contribute to that existential threat, we can't have good cooperation,' she warned. Ukrainian drone and shelling attacks killed three people in Russia on Friday. Russian air defence systems intercepted 155 Ukrainian drones overnight, Moscow said. There was one dead in Russia's Lipetsk region and another was killed in the western Tula region from the drone attacks, local officials said. Ukrainian shelling later killed another civilian in the border region of Belgorod, the governor announced. The Russian defence ministry said out of the 155 downed Ukrainian drones, 11 were bound for Moscow. Ukraine said its drones struck a Russian fighter aircraft plant in the Moscow region and a missile production facility in the Tula region, causing explosions and fires at both. Ukraine's military said on Telegram the aviation facility in the town of Lukhovitsy, about 135km (84 miles) south-east of Moscow, produced MiG fighters. The other site was the Instrument Design Bureau, which specialised in producing anti-aircraft missiles and missile-gun systems, it said. 'Defence forces continue to take all steps to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian occupiers,' the military said. Russian bombardments on eastern Ukraine overnight on Friday forced the evacuation of a maternity centre in Kharkiv and wounded nine people. Zelenskyy said a medical facility was hit in the attack on the country's second-largest city. 'Among the wounded are women in a maternity hospital – mothers with newborns, women recovering from surgery,' he wrote on social media. 'Fortunately, no children were injured.' He added that several other regions were attacked overnight. Nato will need more long-range missiles in its arsenal to deter Russia from attacking Europe because Moscow is expected to increase production of long-range weapons, a US army general told Reuters. 'The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,' Maj Gen John Rafferty said at a US military base in Wiesbaden, Germany. 'And we know that they're going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defences. So more alliance capability is really, really important.' The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that wartime censorship in Russia is justified amid the conflict with Ukraine and the closure of opposition-minded media. Speaking to Russian magazine Expert, Peskov said that many media outlets have been closed, while some reporters have left the country in the past three years. 'But don't forget the situation we are in. Now is the time of military censorship, unprecedented for our country. After all, the war is going on in the information space too,' Peskov told the magazine. Russian authorities also blocked X, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 'It would be wrong to turn a blind eye to the media that are deliberately engaged in discrediting Russia,' he said.
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
UK must prepare for possible war with Russia within five years, ex-British Army chief warns
Britain must prepare for the possibility of war with Russia within the next five years, the former head of the British Army has warned. General Sir Patrick Sanders, who stepped down as Chief of the General Staff last summer, told The Telegraph that a conflict with Russia by 2030 was a 'realistic possibility'. The UK government needs to act swiftly to improve national resilience, he said. 'If Russia stops fighting in Ukraine, within months they could have the capability to launch a limited attack on a Nato member, which would require our support,' Sir Patrick told The Telegraph. The former army chief revealed that previous conversations with government officials about building underground bunkers and command centres had stalled. 'It always came down to a conversation of it being too costly and not a high enough priority, and the threat didn't feel sufficiently imminent or serious to make it worth it,' he said. He pointed to Finland as an example, highlighting that it has bomb shelters capable of protecting 4.5 million people, allowing it to endure missile and air attacks. Sir Patrick said this is a level of preparedness that the UK lacks. Sir Patrick also pointed to Estonia, Poland, and the Nordic countries as governments that take a 'really proactive, serious approach' by encouraging their populations to prepare for potential attacks. Late last year, millions of Swedes were sent a pamphlet advising them on how to prepare and cope in the event of war or another unexpected crisis, as Russia's war in Ukraine continued to escalate. Around the same time, Finland also published fresh advice on 'preparing for incidents and crises'. Sir Patrick warned funding for the UK's air defences is 'much lower' than necessary. He called for more investment in systems that could protect civilians from missile and drone threats. He also criticised troop cuts that have left the British Army 'too small to survive more than the first few months of an intensive engagement,' with reserves also inadequate. In April 2024, the army fell below its recruitment target for the first time since it was set, with personnel numbers at the lowest level since the Napoleonic wars, at around 73,000 troops. All three branches of the UK armed forces are currently sitting below their size targets. Sir Patrick said the recent defence budget increases were 'pretty marginal' and that the UK must wake up to the fact that 'the world has become as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than it was in the Cold War'.
